Two-way silent treatment | Privatization push | JOB BOARD MONDAY

Non-emergency state employees working in executive branch agencies and the Legislature have a delayed start time of 11 a.m. Many schools have cancelled classes for the day.

Please contact institutions and organizations to check on the status of previously planned events.

POSTPONED rally

A planned morning rally by tipped workers, employers, consumers, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Boston and the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition has been postponed until this Thursday.

MassDOT-MBTA meeting

MassDOT Board holds an overlapping meeting with the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board to go over major projects and discuss finances, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, 11 a.m.

Offshore wind contracts

Department of Public Utilities holds a public hearing on the competitively solicited long-term contracts for offshore wind and clean energy generation, One South Station, fifth floor, Boston, 12 p.m.

Environmentalists tele-conference

Environmentalists host a tele-press conference to call for passage of a bill committing the state to 100 percent renewable energy over the next few decades, with Environment Massachusetts state director Ben Hellerstein and Steve Linsky of Climate Action Now among those on the call, Dial in: 1-800-298-6863; Conference ID: 7474344; Password: 36847, 1 p.m.

Police recognition

Gov. Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Secretary of Public Safety and Security Daniel Bennett, Massachusetts State Police Richard Colonel McKeon, Lt. Colonel Edward Amodeo and Somerville Police Chief David Fallon recognize the efforts of the Massachusetts State Troopers and Somerville Police Detectives who in January assisted in the capturing of a dangerous federal fugitive who escaped from a Rhode Island detention center, Memorial Hall, 1:30 p.m.

A planned afternoon discussion on the Trump administration’s impact on the Massachusetts transportation system, hosted by Transportation for Massachusetts, Transportation for America, and Smart Growth America, has been postponed.

Race, gender and political leadership

UMass Boston's McCormack Graduate School hosts a discussion on race, gender and political leadership, with participants including Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Ayanna Pressley; Ann Bookman of the Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy; and Paul Watanabe of the Institute for Asian American Studies, McCormack Hall, UMass Boston, Columbia Point, 6 p.m.

Grossman on ‘Nightside’

Former Treasurer and former state Democratic Party chairman Steven Grossman is a scheduled guest on ‘NightSide with Dan Rea,’ WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 9 p.m.

As far as we can tell, the weekend storm that was expected to stretch well into this morning wasn’t quite as bad as anticipated, though coastal residents and others may have different opinions. Still, the roads are in rough shape and many employers, including the state of Massachusetts, have delayed the start of work this morning as a result of the weather. The Boston Globe and MassLive have lists of school districts that have cancelled classes today.

Warren subtly boasts she wasn’t ‘silent’ on Sessions …

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told parishioners at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Roxbury yesterday that senators were told not to talk about the civil rights record of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reports the Globe’s Nicole Fleming. “No one got up to defend his record and what he has done in the years since,” Warren said. “All they said was, ‘Be silent, be silent, be silent.’” But Warren, as we all know now, wasn’t silent. Warren didn’t quite openly brag, but she sure teed upped the praise from parishioners, who obviously got her message.

The Herald’s Hillary Chabot says that, for all of Elizabeth Warren’s high-profile bashing of President Trump, she remains “a scardy cat when it comes to media.” And Chabot backs up her claim with recent tweets from a Washington Post Congressional reporter, Paul Kane, who complains Warren is “an ‘access journalism’ senator. She only gives access to journalists who appear to be from her ideology. It’s bad. Bad.” He also tweeted: “Senator Obama was a remarkably engaging figure to entire Capitol press corps. It helped prepare him for 2008. EW does not take that path.”

State Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican and huge backer of Donald Trump, says he is “seriously considering” a run against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, after being approached by national Republicans about challenging the liberal icon, reports the Herald’s Matt Stout. So if national Republicans are urging Diehl to run, that means they’re not exactly excited about former Red Sox hurler Curt Schilling taking on Warren? The conservative Curt is presumably still consulting his wife about possibly running.

From the Globe’s David Abel: “A Baker administration plan to cut harmful greenhouse gases could have the unintended consequence of boosting carbon emissions across the rest of New England, say some environmental advocates and representatives of the energy industry.” We expected power plant owners to complain. But the confirmation of their concerns by environmentalists comes as a bit of surprise, though they appear to disagree on the severity of the potential problem.

This is big: T officials are poised to present a plan as soon as Monday to outsource maintenance of the agency’s buses and in-station customer service, moves that bring privatization to the T’s core operations for the first time and ones that could save $65 million annually while impacting as many as 600 union jobs, Matt Stout of the Herald reports.

A group of foreclosure activists—including a member of the Worcester City Council—has sued Attorney General Maura Healey over her decision to halt an initiative petition effort to repeal a 2015 law designed to make it easier to clear title issues in foreclosed properties, Brad Petrishen of the Telegram reports.

WCVB’s Mike Beaudet teamed with journalism students at Northeastern University to review credit card payments by state agencies and found plenty of transparency and forthrightness from agencies such as the Mass. Cultural Council (which favors Davio’s for lunch, btw) and the Mass. Gaming Commission (where members go to Vegas a lot). But that transparency came to a screeching halt when it came to the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which invoked its exception to the state’s public records laws and told Beaudet only that the more than $213,000 charged to its chamber card was spent on “legitimate business expenses."

After his United Independent Party was effectively delisted last year, Evan Falchuk is now admitting “third parties are not the answer” and has reluctantly joined ranks with Dems to fight Donald Trump, though he’s not happy with the state of the Democratic Party today and is urging changes. Our question: Does this mean he’s not running against his arch-nemesis, Secretary of State Bill Galvin, a Democrat? The Globe's Nestor Ramos says Falchuck, a 2014 gubernatorial candidate, isn't saying whether he'll run for an office next year.

Maybe former comedian and current U.S. Senator Al Franken, a Democrat, sparked the story when he recently said “a few” of his Republican colleagues have expressed concern about President Trump’s mental state. No matter where the idea came from, Stat’s Sharon Begley interviewed 10 psychiatrists and psychologists — some supporters of Trump, some not — about the president’s behavior and, with the usual disclaimers, generally concluded he’s a compulsive egomaniac of colossal proportions (our words). But surprise! Their findings sometimes fall along pro- and anti-Trump lines. Maybe it's time psychiatrists and psychologists start seriously studying the emotional and behavioral patterns that lead to hyper partisanship. It might do the nation a lot of good.

The Herald’s Joe Fitzgerald is all upset that six New England Patriots are planning to boycott any White House event honoring this year’s Super Bowl champs, saying it was wrong for the Bruins’ Tim Thomas to skip a White House Stanley Cup celebration in 2012 and it’s wrong today, damn it. Except Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin digs up an old Fitz column that defended Tim’s White House boycott five years ago. “So what's changed between 2012 and 2017, Joe?” asks Adam. In case you haven’t figured it out, a Democrat was in the White House in 2012 and a Republican is in the White House today.

Even as some of his players refuse to meet with President Trump at the White House, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was palling around with the president over the weekend at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, along with some guy named Shinzo Abe, according to wire and staff reports at the Globe. At one point, Trump said Kraft ‘‘knew he was going to win (the Super Bowl) game, even when he was down 28-3.’’

Seeing there’s no respite from the daily barrage of Trump outbursts these days, this now seems like old news, i.e. President Trump’s assertion, as reported by Politico late last week, that busloads of Bay State residents, hordes of them, as a matter of fact, by the thousands and thousands, cast ballots last November in New Hampshire. He offered not a shred of evidence, as both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald dutifully note, though both papers do report about frequent unsubstantiated reports of voter fraud in the Granite State. Fyi: The Herald’s front-page print headline on Saturday was ‘Busloads of Baloney.’

The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is almost pleading with Democrats and Republicans to just accept the elections results.

Trump still calling Liz ‘Pocahontas’

In the same meeting with lawmakers, President Trump made clear he “apparently hasn’t tired of calling Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas,’” the Globe’s Danny McDonald reports, noting the president reportedly referred to her several times by the nickname, an obvious jab at Warren’s once claimed (and unproven) Cherokee lineage. But when did Trump ever stop calling her Pocahontas? He’s not one to let go of grudges – or insults.

This might have hurt city councilor and mayoral candidate Tito Jackson if he hadn’t paid the fines on the more than 100 parking tickets he’s been hit with over the years. But he did pay the fines, as the Herald’s Dan Atkinson notes, and so ... end of story?

It’s probably going nowhere, but you can’t blame her for not trying. From Gerry Tuoti at MetwoWest Daily News: “A new proposal on Beacon Hill would increase taxes on gun sales, ban .50 caliber weapons, restrict personal sales and enact additional regulations on firearms and ammunition. ‘Gun violence issues have always been important to me,’ said state Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, the bill's sponsor. "I've filed gun legislation every session. I want to make it harder and harder to get guns in and get guns into the hands of people who shouldn't have them.’"

The number of people seeking and getting licenses to carry firearms has been steadily rising over the past seven years in Massachusetts, including in the Brockton and South Shore area, reports the Enterprise’s Tom Relhan at Wicked Local. And middle-class communities tend to have more permits.

Lawmakers have filed a host of bills for the current legislative session aimed at addressing the state’s prison recidivism rate, Christian Wade of the Salem News reports. Increasing the amount social services offered in prisons and strengthening post-release supervision and support are among the ideas that are being floated that will likely be rolled into a comprehensive discussion about criminal justice reform.